Did Proton covertly sponsor an ad on Subway Takes? And is it ethical?

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Earlier today, while scrolling YouTube Shorts, I randomly came across this video from Subway Takes, a popular channel I enjoy and am subscribed to.

The video shows what seems to be a random stranger making a compelling case for protecting the privacy of children on social media. I always intended to share this video with the forum because I think it’s cool and genuinely believed it was an organic serendipitous interaction.

There is no visible indication that this video is a sponsored ad.
And it’s my understanding that legally there must be if it is.

However, hours later, as I was preparing to share this video, I noticed that when you click on the video title, you get a pop-up description window indicating this is a sponsored ad for Proton.

PROTON_Sneaky Ad on Subway Takes
PROTON_Sneaky Ad on Subway Takes1454×914 275 KB

Specifically, it’s an ad for Proton’s newly launched feature that allows parents to reserve a Proton Mail username for their children.

If you never click on the video title, you will never know this is a sponsored ad.
The video does not even mention Proton.

Subway Takes mostly features interviews with strangers on the train. Nevertheless, they also have celebrities and public figures on their show. And when they do, they always share that person’s name, indicating that they are known. We get no such indication here.

Does this woman work for Proton ? Is she an actress?

We don’t know.

Who is responsible for the poor presentation of this ad?

I would argue that it is primarily Subway Takes, but it’s unclear if Proton had a role in it.

Proton launches feature allowing parents to reserve their child's Proton Mail address
Privacy is Also Protecting the Data of Others
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What the problem here? I’m not seeing it.

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It says #ProtonPartner in the description. That’s the legal requirement as it discloses the partnership.

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You have to click on the description to know that it’s ad.

How often do you click on the description of YouTube Short?

Most people will not click. I myself didn’t realize it was an add until I rewatched it and clicked hours later.

I don’t understand why the channel didn’t make it clear it was an ad. Both parties, Proton and Subway Takes, lose by not making it clear. They should have had a sponsored ad sign, but also a pinned comment. Otherwise, how will people know to click? How does Subway Takes makes money if people don’t click on their sponsored link? How does Proton get new users if people don’t click?

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They’re supposed to use the built in feature for disclosing this but it doesn’t seem like they did?

That might be on the channel and not proton though. I would hope Proton checks and makes sure all sponsorships are properly disclosed before they go out however.

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The Proton hate is actually wild.

Exactly, thus there is no issue. The link in the description is clearly a referral link. What more could you possibly want?

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It’s the cool new flavor of the month: to pile on Proton. Valid criticisms before but not every little thing is Proton’s fault.

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Is it really an ad when Proton is not mentioned in the video?
It only becomes an ad when you read the description IMHO .. and in the description it is disclosed as an ad.

:person_shrugging:

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Indeed.

Yes. That is possible. So far neither Proton or SubwayTakes have posted the video on their Twitter accounts. However, they both shared the video on their respective Instagram accounts.

Last year, YouTube introduced a new display feature that shows you all the different channels that collaborated in the same video. You don’t just see one profile, but the profiles of all the channels involved.

I am surprised that neither Proton nor Subway Takes took advantage of this feature for their YouTube video. That being said, I am seeing that Instagram has this feature too, and the video on Proton and Subway Takes’s IG profiles, indicate that it’s a collaboration between the two.

INSTAGRAM_Proton & Subway Takes Collab
INSTAGRAM_Proton & Subway Takes Collab1276×897 271 KB

So my guess is, this is a mistake on Subway Takes and/or Proton’s part.
Or there is an issue with YouTube.

It’s a sponsored video. Subway Takes have their own unique link on Proton’s website.
Is that not a form of advertising?

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How is this hate?

I am asking a question because I did not notice that this video was an ad, and I am sure that most of the people who saw it on YouTube did not notice it either.

What seems clear to me, is that some people are reluctant to accept criticism about Proton when they accept and embrace the same criticisms about other companies.

If Proton itself openly criticizes other companies for their bad practices, why is it unfair to criticize them when they engage in the same practices?

We can’t just denounce bad practices when companies we don’t like are involved. We have to hold feet to the fire to our own community. Otherwise, we compromise our values.

That doesn’t mean that everyone in the privacy community should agree on everything. There is room for disagreement. But calling my criticisms hate is unwarranted and dishonest.

I like Proton. I pay for Proton. Have for many years now. I just want them to do better and uphold the values of privacy that we all hold dear.

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I don’t know if it’s hate, but it’s definitely making us lose our time. Like you posted the link in the email feature so everyone can see it.

And the video in itself doesn’t even mention Proton. only the title and the description mention it. both make it obvious it’s sponsored. It’s a bit of a snowflake behavior.

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I think one of the reasons people are skeptical about this

I get where you’re coming from, and you might be making a fair point here about the ad. I can’t speak for it. I’m not entirely sure cause I haven’t really looked into it. Maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. But no company should be immune to criticism, and holding protons feet to the fire when they mess up is the right thing to do. You’re right.

But you really need to consider what’s been going on lately to understand why people are reacting to your post this way.

There has been a massive, unusual, and I would say eyebrow raising, head scratching uptick in unreasonable misinformation surrounding proton recently. It’s pretty well known at this point that there have been some active, coordinated anti proton campaigns going on across the web.

I don’t think it’s happening so much here, unless people are getting caught in a web. It feels like every time you open any forum, or social media lately, there are a million new replies just relentlessly bashing proton, or spreading the same misinformation. And it’s pretty clear if you do a little digging, a lot of these accounts are bots. And unlike the VPN thing which PG has responded to, a lot of of it is not reasonable or well founded criticism.

The problem is that a lot of it end up into outright hate, or people doing absolute mental gymnastics just to find a reason to tear the company down. And again elsewhere on the web, there’s a ton of bad faith trolling going on.

I don’t think calling it ‘hate,’ is not about your specific, reasonable point. It’s just that everyone’s defenses are dialed up to 11 right now because the web is being flooded with bad faith attacks.

People don’t need to make up stuff to criticize proton. I promise you, anyone that spends an afternoon trying to use drive, can write a novel of legitimate complaints.

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I don’t think this is a waste of time. I have voiced my criticisms of Proton directly to them. We’ve had a lot of exchanges over the years. Most of the criticism I’ve voiced to them, they are not willing to consider changing, which is partly why I think it is important to voice them publicly. I’ve had the same experience with other companies. It is not unique to Proton.

Yes, I did. As I said, I was always going to share this video the moment I saw it because I thought it was interesting. Originally, I was leaning to post it in the comment section about PG’s article on protecting the privacy of others. But as I was preparing to share the video, hours after I had first seen it, I noticed it was an ad for Proton’s new child username feature, which warrants sharing it in comment section about that.

What made me also dedicate an original post to it is the apparent lack of transparency which I don’t deny, could be a genuine mistake, but still worthy of discussion, IMHO.

No, it doesn’t.

Proton’s name is NOT visible in the title.

You have to click on it to see it in the description pop-up window.

This is the title of the video:

Posting your kids publicly online is the same as leaving them at a gas station!! #proton

It is way too long for anyone to see the Proton hashtag. I did not see it, which is why I wrongly assumed it was not in the title.

Most people won’t see it. Most people also won’t click on the title, because most people don’t click on the titles of YouTube Shorts.

I only clicked on it because I was planning to share the video, and bookmarked it in Raindrop for later. As I was bookmarking it in Raindrop, I wanted to add tags, including not just the name of the channel (Subway Takes), but the name of the host (Kareem Rhama), and if it was available, the name of the guest (still unknown). This kind of information usually appears in titles, which is why I clicked.

I’m not offended by the presentation of this video. By not making it clear on YouTube that it is a sponsorded video, its audience is being misled. I genuinely like video. I support its message. I’m just a bit bummed it’s sponsored ad, which is not an issue. The issue is that its presentation is botched and misleading because someone probably made a mistake.

Assuming that we both want this ad to be effective by driving people who watched it to learn about Proton, wouldn’t it be fair to say that its paratext is a failure? That the ad failed at its goal?

PS: I just recently learned about the word “paratext”, courtesy of Nerdwriter, and couldn’t resist this perfect opportunity to use it for the first time. I hope I didn’ use it wrong. :sweat_smile: